3D printed hands for free

Posted on by aneczka2307

http://time.com/4016974/3d-printed-hands-e-nable/

See How Kids Are Getting 3D-printed Hands for Free

A global network of almost 6,000 volunteers is making it happen.

With standard prosthetic hands costing anywhere from several thousand to a hundred thousand dollars, convincing insurance companies to buy new hands and arms for growing kids every couple of months is an impossible task.

After watching a YouTube video about 3D-printed prosthetics, RIT professor Jon Schull had an idea. With one YouTube comment, he harnessed an online community of volunteers and problem-solvers to work toward one goal—providing free, 3D-printable prosthetics to kids in need.

Two years later, Schull has taken his idea and turned it into a global network of almost 6,000 volunteers. To date, the e-NABLE network has printed over 1,500 devices in 50 countries, and the network continues to grow at a rapid pace.

e-NABLE’s wrist and elbow actuated prosthetics cost only $30-$50 apiece, and require up to three days worth of printer time and assembly. Schull’s volunteers are matched with a child in need, and provide the customized, completed hand or arm at no cost to the child’s family. e-NABLE’s network is currently working on making the devices available in other countries, as well as printing the hands with different skin tones and with different materials that will make the hands look more similar to the human hand.

While e-NABLE’s volunteers are spawning new variations of hands and arms faster than he can keep up with, Schull hopes to be able to expand his model to help solve new problems. He sees heads-up displays, text-to speech translators, and even gene printing in e-NABLE’s future.

“I believe we… have proven that there are probably hundreds of thousands of digital humanitarians ready willing and able to lend a metaphorical hand for the global good,” Schull said. “And so the…goal is to figure out what iceberg this is the emerging tip of.”

time.com

by Julia Lull | Aug. 31, 2015

3D printed smartwatch

Posted on by aneczka2307

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20150817-8-year-old-child-develops-3d-printed-smartwatch-kit-for-kids-to-learn-coding-and-3d-printing.html

8-year-old child develops 3D printed smartwatch kit for kids to learn coding and 3D printing

Due to the successes of the ever expanding maker revolution, it’s becoming more and more evident that 3D printers and basic programming need to be integrated into schools to prepare children for their future. Its therefore fantastic to see that children are already picking up making themselves. Just look at the eight-year-old aspiring programmer and maker Omkar Govil-Nair, who has already developed his very own 3D printed O Watch smartwatch and plans to make it available everywhere through a crowdfunding campaign.

Now we sometimes come across inspiring children who are so quickly and easily taking up programming and 3D printing, but few are as successful as Omkar. Like most eight-year-olds, he will be starting fourth grade this year and loves Star Wars, James Bond and badminton. But unlike most, he also loves working with Arduinos and 3D printing. ‘I got interested in electronics and programming 3 years back when I attended my 2nd Maker Faire. I was inspired by Quin Etnyre then the 12 year old CEO of Qtechknow. Since then I wanted to make my own product,’ he explains about his fascination.

But more than doing just a bit of tinkering, he has actually developed this cool-looking O Watch, an Arduino-based programmable smartwatch that is intended to give kids a bit of experience with programming and 3D design. Planning to bring this cool watch to market, it will come with a complete set of components that can be used to build the watch yourself and customize it with 3D printed cases and colorful straps.

As Omkar explained to 3ders.org, he was inspired by all the buzz around smartwatches. ‘I wanted one for myself. I was doing some Arduino project and decided to make my watch using Arduino compatible components. I thought it will be great if other kids can also make their own watches and that is how the idea was created. I always wanted to have my own company after I read about Quin Etnyre of Qtechnow and met him at Maker Faire in 2014, so looking to launch a crowd funding project,’ he explains. ‘I want to make this kit available with easy-to-use web instructions for other kids like me to make their own smartwatches and learn 3D printing and programming.’

As he goes on to explain, the O Watch is essentially an Arduino IDE build intended for basic use through four buttons. ‘You can program it using Arduino IDE. You can program it to function as a watch with date and time functions from Arduino, you can make games and apps and with the sensor board model you can also measure temperature, humidity, pressure as well as make a compass,’ he says. An integrated color OLED screen and a LiPo batter finishes the kit. One example that the boy already made is a rock-paper-scissors app, illustrating that it is a perfect option for learning some basic programming.

What’s more, Omkar did a lot of the work himself and the rest with the help from his dad. ‘I started learning 3D design using Sketchup about 6 months back with help from my dad and Sketchup video tutorials,’ he explains. They then started designs for a case about five months ago, with an eye on the Bay Area Maker Faire. ‘We tried several designs and printed many versions before we got the basic working model we used for the Maker Faire in May. After that we further improved it a bit to make the edges rounded,’ he explains. All 3D printed parts were completed on a Printrbot Simple Metal and in PLA, with a case taking anywhere between twenty and forty-five minutes to 3D print depending on the settings used.

This fun and impressive watch looks perfect for educational purposes, so it’s fantastic to hear that Omkar and his dad are also planning a crowdfunding campaign, which is set to launch later this month. The specific goal will be to raise funds for further improving designs and developing templates that can be easily used by children for customization and 3D printing options. The father and son duo are also aiming to develop two kits: one with the basic O Watch, and the second with an additional sensor board with a wide range of sensors for more build options. In short, plenty to keep an eye on. You can find the O Watch website here.

3ders.org

by Alec | Aug 17, 2015

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20150817-8-year-old-child-develops-3d-printed-smartwatch-kit-for-kids-to-learn-coding-and-3d-printing.html

3D printed models for kids’ operations

Posted on by aneczka2307

http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/01/boston-childrens-hospital-3d-printing/

Surgeons practice on 3D-printed models for kids’ operations

Surgeons at Boston Children’s Hospital started using 3D-printed copies of patients’ affected body parts to prepare for procedures last year. Now, that move has helped save the lives of four children aged two months to 16 years old who suffered from life-threatening blood vessel malformation in their brains. Their condition gave ride to distinctive anatomies that one of the hospital’s neurosurgeon, Edward Smith, said were really tricky to operate on. So, the doctors used a combination of 3D printing and synthetic resins to conjure up copies of the kids’ deformed vessels, along with nearby normal counterparts and surrounding brain anatomy. That gave them the chance to practice extensively beforehand and reduce possible complications on the operating table.

Smith said the models allowed them to “view [the formations] from different angles, practice the operation with real instruments and get tactile feedback.” It was especially beneficial for three of the four patients, as they had arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) — their arteries and veins were all tangled up – that required the surgeons to cut blood vessels as quickly as possible, and in a certain sequence. Thanks to their preparations, the surgeons managed to fix the kids’ distorted blood vessels and cut surgery time by 30 minutes each. Smith and his colleague Darren Orbach now plan to use 3D printing to train younger doctors and for even trickier cases in the future.

engadget.com

by Mariella Moon | August 1st 2015 At 3:33am

3D printing impact on human life

Posted on by aneczka2307

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-3-kids-alive-today-thanks-to-a-3d-printer/

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Meet 3 kids alive today thanks to a 3D printer

A 3D printer saved the lives of three baby boys with the same life-threatening condition, their doctors report in the latest issue of Science Translational Medicine.

Kaiba Gionfriddo was six weeks old when he turned blue because his lungs weren’t getting enough oxygen. He was diagnosed with a terminal form of tracheobronchomalacia, a medical condition that causes the windpipe to periodically collapse and prevents normal breathing. With no cure and a low life expectancy, doctors told his mother April he may not make it out of the hospital alive.

Kaiba was one of the three babies who became the first in the world to receive 3D-printed devices that helped keep their airways open so they could breathe properly, thus saving their lives. “These cases broke new ground for us because we were able to use 3D printing to design a device that successfully restored patients’ breathing through a procedure that had never been done before,” Glenn Green, MD, an associate professor of pediatric otolaryngology at the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, said in a statement.

Tracheobronchomalacia affects about 1 in 2,000 children around the world, according to the doctors, and renders them unable to fully exhale. Using a 3D printer, Green and his colleagues were able to create and implant a customized splint around the airways of the three boys to expand the trachea and bronchus. This 3D printed device is made to change shape over time as the children grow, and eventually be reabsorbed by the body as the condition is cured.

The findings in the report suggest that this early intervention may prevent complications of conventional treatment of tracheobronchomalacia such as a tracheostomy, prolonged hospitalization, mechanical ventilation, cardiac and respiratory arrest, food malabsorption and discomfort.

Kaiba was the first to receive the implant three years ago and his doctors report that the splint has degraded and he appears to be disease-free. “Before this procedure, babies with severe tracheobronchomalacia had little chance of surviving,” Green said. “Today, our first patient Kaiba is an active, healthy 3-year-old in preschool with a bright future. The device worked better than we could have ever imagined.”

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Two other children have also had success with the device.

Garrett Peterson received one a the age of 16 months. Garrett spent the first year of his life in hospital beds tethered to a ventilator, being fed through his veins because his body was too sick to absorb food.

Since receiving the device, he has not shown signs of any complications and is leading a normal life, able to breathe properly, doctors say.

Ian Orbich’s condition was so grave that his heart stopped before he was even six months old. He received a customized 3D-printed splint and is now doing well at the age of 17 months.

Green and his colleagues received emergency clearance from the FDA to do the procedures. While these three cases appear to be a huge success, the doctors noted that this technology will take time to put into widespread practice. “The potential of 3D-printed medical devices to improve outcomes for patients is clear, but we need more data to implement this procedure in medical practice,” Green said. The authors also acknowledge that potential complications of the procedure may not yet be evident.

Yet if you ask Kaiba’s mom, April Gionfriddo, the procedure was nothing short of a miracle. “The first time he was hospitalized, doctors told us he may not make it out,” she said in a statement. “It was scary knowing he was the first child to ever have this procedure, but it was our only choice and it saved his life.”

cbsnews.com

by ASHLEY WELCH, CBS NEWS | April 29, 2015, 2:05 PM

3D printed car models from children’s sketches

Posted on by Malta 3D Printing

Breathing Life Into Simple Sketches: A Japanese Company is Making Every Child’s Dream Come True!

http://3dprint.com/32854/3d-printed-cars-kids-designs/

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Japanese Company 3D Prints Amazingly Unique Working Car Models from Children’s Sketches

The future of 3D printing lies in the hands of our youth. It will be today’s school-aged children who grow up understanding the concepts behind 3D modeling and 3D printing better than most of us who are currently employed in the workforce. Hopefully with 3D printing curricula in schools, and a growing understanding that the technology holds tremendous potential, our children will be the ones to really reap the rewards of the technology. It will be these same children who will be working for the companies that do for 3D printing what the Googles, Apples, and IBMs did for personal computing.

In Japan, 3D printing is beginning to really take off. One company, called t-o-f-u design, understands the importance of teaching children about this technology. In collaboration with Inter-Culture, at the 2014 Maker Faire in Tokyo, t-o-f-udecided to try something very unique, when it comes to 3D printing. They allowed 11 children, between the ages of 4 and 8 years old, to design a side view of a car that they would like to have fabricated on a 3D printer. They were merely asked to draw a profile of a vehicle from one side, and then t-o-f-u and company were to do the rest.

 

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“We are actually full time car designers [for a] major Japanese car company,” Park tells 3DPrint.com. “We created this design unit to create fun and meaningful educational workshops for kids and also to do more collaboration projects with other creative talents. It is part of our learning experience as well.”

Using Autodesk Alias, t-o-f-u was able to create digital 3D models of the kids’ cars. They then had INTER-CULTURE 3D print the designs using a 3D Systems Sinterstation HiQ. Once the cars were 3D printed, the kids were then asked to color them using special markers.

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The end result? 11 separate 3D printed cars that featured moving wheels, and an individuality about them only possible via 3D printing. The cars, which were exhibited at the Tokyo Maker Faire, garnered quite the attention from show attendees.

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The children were also able to push their cars around a track to see just how fast they could go.

“Since we made only a one course race track, we could not race them, but all the cars drive perfectly,” explained Park. “So we had [the kids] drive them one by one, and they were super excited to see their own designed cars moving!”

Now with this project complete, t-o-f-u is looking toward future projects, including collaboration with other large 3D printing companies. Park tells us that they are in talks with Materialise Japan, and they are in the process of working on another kids design workshop that will take place in the middle of January.

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What do you think about this unique way of using 3D printing to get kids involved with and excited about the technology? Discuss in the 3D printed kids cars forumthread on 3DPB.com.

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3DPRINT.COM
by  | DECEMBER 23, 2014

3D printed hands

Posted on by Malta 3D Printing

Adding a superhero’s touch to prosthetic hands 🙂

http://techcrunch.com/…/3d-printed-hands-just-got-better-t…/

3D Printed Hands Just Got Better Thanks To These DIY Wolverine Claws

What could be better than giving disabled kids a new pair of hands? How about slapping a set of claws on those hands!

Aaron Brown, a maker and volunteer for the group Enabling The Future, has been building 3D printed prosthetic hands for kids who are missing fingers. These hands are given away for free and the group has made countless children quite happy.

Now they can be happier. Brown built a set of Wolverine claws that are compatible with the free prosthetic hand plans available on Thingiverse.

“The Comic loving nerd inside of me (along with some Facebook friends) said there is no way I can make a Wolverine hand without CLAWS…so I modeled some in Sketchup the morning before the makerfaire, printed ‘em, spray painted ‘em silver and velcro’d ‘em on there. Turned out pretty darn cool!” said Brown.

“I worked for about 7 years in nightclub security, with a few less exciting factory jobs before that.
Playing around with technology has always been a passion and hobby on the side and when my grandfather passed away unexpectedly last year, I was left with a small amount of funds in his will – just enough to start building my own business,” he said. Now he is working on a small 3D print shop and has been building Wolverine-themed hands for kids since he showed the first hand at the Grand Rapids Maker Faire.

It’s great to see 3D printing become truly useful and it’s even more exciting to see folks who can move from part-time nightclub bouncer to full time maker with a little time and effort.

TECHCRUNCH.COM
by  | Sep 6, 2014

Infant prodigy

Posted on by Malta 3D Printing

Kids these days!

http://3dprint.com/8232/15-year-old-fastest-printer-ever/

thomas2

15-Year-Old is Creating a 3D Printer ’10X Faster, Most Reliable & Advanced Ever’

The number one issue that people have with 3D printers today, is the speed at which they print at. People now-a-days want things quickly, at the touch of a button. Over the years, many of our everyday jobs, chores, and desires have reached a point of almost becoming instant. For example, when you want to print a document from your computer or tablet, its done in approximately 5-10 seconds. When you want to bring up a website on your smartphone, it’s up in a matter of 1-2 seconds. Just about every aspect of our lives, when compared to that of the technology we used a few decades ago, has moved into a new realm where everything seems to be running in “fast forward”. 3D printing, however, when it comes to speed, is still chipping at the ice in the Ice Age.

This can be expected. 3D printing is a relatively new technology, especially when you focus solely on consumer level, at-home 3D printers. It can take a full day to print objects the size of a basketball. It can take several hours to print something as small as a Rubik’s Cube. Speeds have improved slightly in the few years since consumer level 3D printers have been made available to the general public. However, we’ve hardly seen any noticeable improvements. One little boy and his company CarrotCorp, plans on changing this.

Thomas Suarez, a 15-year-old little boy, made headlines several years ago when he created a Justin Bieber whack-a-mole game called Bustin Jieber. Since then he has given a TED talk on technology, was featured on BBC, and had the chance to meet a lot of important and famous people.

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Now Suarez has a relatively new interest, and that interest is 3D printing. He had the chance to meet Bre Pettis back in 2012, and tour the MakerBot ‘Botfarm’.

“I told my dad [about 3D printing], and he said, ‘oh that’s not real!’,” explained Suarez back in 2012. “He didn’t believe it.”

Soon after, Suarez decided to prove to his dad that 3D printing was very real, by setting up a tour of the MakerBot botfarm. Nevertheless, his father became a believer, and Thomas himself became even more enamored by the technology; so much so that he decided to set out to push the technology even further.

“Recently I applied for a patent on 3D printing,” Suarez told BBC in aninterview. “I’m trying to make 3D printing faster and more reliable. The key there is speed, and we’re trying to [get] ten times faster than current generation 3D printers.”

Thomas is completely self taught when it comes to his technology insight, and his revolutionary new ideas. It should be interesting to see more details on what this patented super 3D printer includes. If Thomas can legitimately create a 3D printer capable of speeds that are ten times faster than today’s current technology, you may just be reading about a future billionaire. Just yesterday, CarrotCorp announced that they are working on creating a 3D printer that is “the most advanced, the most reliable, and the fastest 3D printer ever created”.

We have recently covered a story on 3D Systems, a company which has created a super speedy industrial level 3D printing system for the creation of smartphone modules, as part of Google’s Project Ara. However, we have yet to see these 3D printers in action, and they will surely cost in excess of $1,000,000 each. Thomas’ patent is for a consumer level 3D printer technology, which could make the process of 3D printing ever so close to being the speeds we all truly desire.

3DPRINT.COM
by  | JULY 6, 2014